deteriorating

[ dih-teer-ee-uh-rey-ting ]

adjective

1. becoming worse or inferior in condition, character, quality, value, etc.:

   A deteriorating house, whatever the cause, will have an adverse effect on your real estate investment.

   Officials have warned of a deteriorating security situation in the disputed territory.

2. disintegrating or wearing away:

   If what you have underneath is fabric or fiberglass, I’d be concerned that deteriorating paint is letting ultraviolet rays do their worst to your aircraft.

Other Words From

• un·de·te·ri·o·rat·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of deteriorating¹

First recorded in 1680–90; deteriorate ( def ) + -ing ²( def )

Example Sentences

The NFL toughened its coronavirus protocols Wednesday, as it attempts to complete its season amid deteriorating conditions nationally.

From Washington Post

Yet much of the transportation infrastructure in the US is outdated, deteriorating, and badly in need of repair.

From Singularity Hub 

At the same time, the keys to controlling epidemic spread — test, trace, and isolate — were underutilized by a public health system that had deteriorated with a decade of fiscal austerity.

From Vox

“If things deteriorate, that’d be a case where you would want to continue the facilities and maybe change them and have some new ones,” Powell said.

From Washington Post

The air quality in Delhi and surrounding areas deteriorate significantly every winter, mainly owing to stubble burning in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab.

From Quartz

She also tracks his deteriorating health through the harrowing videos of the captives regularly released by the Nusra Front.

From The Daily Beast

Soon, there were no civil society groups left to monitor the deteriorating situation with hostages and abductions.

From The Daily Beast

“We got other accounts as well that his health was deteriorating,” he added.

From The Daily Beast

The family feud over America's Top 40 host Casey Kasem's deteriorating health hit a meat-throwing new low this weekend.

From The Daily Beast

On March 19, 2014, for example, a patient with a deteriorating heart condition requested to see a doctor.

From The Daily Beast

Meanwhile his property may be seized by a marshal or receiver on proof that he is neglecting it or that it is deteriorating.

From Project Gutenberg

In Sarah we see as great a luxuriance of evil as can be imagined to blend with real piety, without essentially deteriorating it.

From Project Gutenberg

The effect of constant, of lifelong application in such labour cannot but be deteriorating to the mind.

From Project Gutenberg

These days Miss Kilrain was holding aloof from the Society and its deteriorating tendencies.

From Project Gutenberg

Some days ago our most worthy president informed me that they were deteriorating, eh?

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• crummy
• decaying
• decrepit
• desolate
• dilapidated
• dingy
• pitiful
• ramshackle
• ratty
• rickety
• run down
• scruffy
• seedy
• shoddy
• squalid
• tacky
• tattered
• threadbare
• worn